800 Kurdish Peshmerga troops killed in fighting with ISIS: Massoud Barzani

Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,—The Head of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, announced that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces had killed approximately 3,000 IS militants.

In an interview with the London-based Hayat Magazine, Barzani added, “800 Peshmerga were killed. Of those, 300 were officers, two of them were major generals, and ten were brigadiers.”

Barzani also spoke of his December visit to a family who had lost three sons in the Peshmerga forces. He said he had to delay visiting them because it was so hard on him, adding that he could not forget their bereaved mother.
 
He told the stories of several Peshmerga being killed, and said, “Imagine seeing an officer alive at night, and then hearing about his death tomorrow.”

Barzani stated, “We defeated IS, and we cleared 17 kilometers under the control of IS. We killed about 3,000 extremists.”

Barzani declared that the Peshmerga forces are ready to ”go into the final war” against the so-called Islamic State (IS), if given the weapons and ammunition they badly need.

“We are ready to go into the final war against the terrorists if we are given the heavy weapons we need,” Barzani said.

Although he emphasized that fighting IS had been more difficult than Iraqi Kurdistan’s battle against Saddam Hussein’s regime, he also said that he had told Iraqi officials “Peshmerga forces are ready to the final fight.”

IS/ISIS grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq and was originally established as the fake Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in April 2013. Since capturing Iraq’s western city of Fallujah in January of last year, the group has gone on to control approximately one third of the country.

Peshmerga forces continue their fight to retake IS-held territories in the north of the country, with clashes near the city of Kirkuk having intensified since ISIS launched an attack in the area on Friday.



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